This invention relates to a ventilating article of footwear such as a shoe which is capable of circulating air for ventilation, and more particularly to an article of footwear having an outer sole which is constructed to cause air circulation.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,171 discloses an article of footwear in which protrusions project outwardly from the outer sole and are arranged to send compressed air forcibly into the shoe when the protrusions are depressed and deformed.
However, by this specific construction, it is not possible to provide a shoe which affords the necessary stability, due to the fact that this conventional type of ventilated shoe comprises an outer sole having protrusions which deform irregularly. Further, such protrusions impart to the shoe an unusual appearance which tends to give the wearer a sense of non-conformity, and in addition, the protrusions appear as defects which detract from the image of a high grade of shoe.
Furthermore, since air circulation is caused only by deformation of the individual protrusions, it is very difficult to achieve mass air circulation. If the shoe is designed to cause mass air circulation by enlargment of the protrusions, an undesirable loss of stability results. Those disadvantages are inherent in the basic construction of the conventional ventilated shoe.